Editing Menedemus

{{Short description|Greek philosopher (345/44 – 261/60 BC)}}
{{About|the founder of the Eretrian school of philosophy}}
'''Menedemus of Eretria''' ({{langx|grc|Μενέδημος ὁ Ἐρετριεύς}}; 345/44 – 261/60 BC{{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=52}}) was a [[Greece|Greek]] [[philosopher]] and founder of the [[Eretrian school]].<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Menedemus |volume=18 |pages=127–128 |inline=1}}</ref> He learned philosophy first in [[Athens]], and then, with his friend [[Asclepiades of Phlius|Asclepiades]], he subsequently studied under [[Stilpo]] and [[Phaedo of Elis]]. Nothing survives of his philosophical views apart from a few scattered remarks recorded by later writers.

==Life==
Menedemus was born at [[Eretria]]. He was a member of the noble Theopropidai family, which held significant religious authority but had become impoverished by Menedemus's time. Like his father, Cleisthenes, he worked as a builder and tent maker. 

In the course of military conflicts (probably 323/322 BC, during the [[Lamian War]]) he was sent with a military expedition to [[Megara]], from where he traveled to the [[Platonic Academy]] in [[Athens]] and resolved to devote himself to philosophy.<ref>Laërtius says he was charmed by [[Plato]] himself. Still, Plato was dead by the time Menedemus was born {{harv|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 126}}.</ref> At Megara he formed a lifelong friendship with [[Asclepiades of Phlius]], with whom he toiled in the night that he might study philosophy by day.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], iv. 168</ref> Later, [[Asclepiades of Phlius|Asclepiades]] and Menedemus went to Elis and became students of the philosophical descendants of [[Phaedo of Elis]], namely Anchipylus and Moschus. He was subsequently a pupil first of [[Stilpo]] and then of, whose school he transferred to Eretria, by which name it was afterward known.<ref name=EB1911/>{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 126}} Around 310 BC, [[Asclepiades of Phlius|Asclepiades]] and Menedemus visited [[Salamis, Cyprus|Salamis]] in [[Ancient history of Cyprus|Cyprus]], where they stayed at the court of [[Asclepiades of Phlius|King Nikocreon]].

In addition to his philosophical work, he took a leading part in the political affairs of his city from the time of the [[Diadochi]] until his death. By about 300 BC, Menedemus began to assume a prominent position in the political life of his hometown on the island of Euboea. He is said to have campaigned for the independence of Eretria, which had lost much of its former importance at that time, and accompanied numerous embassies to other Greek cities. During this time, Menedemus grew close to [[Antigonus II Gonatas]], the king of Macedonia who dominated Euboea. His friendship with [[Antigonus II Gonatas]] seems to have roused suspicion as to his loyalty, and he sought safety first in the temple of Amphiaraus at [[Oropus]], and later with Antigonus, at whose court he is said to have died of grief. Other accounts say that he starved himself to death on failing to induce Antigonus to free his native city.<ref name=EB1911/> 

==Relationships==
According to [[Diogenes Laertius]], Menedemus married the mother of his older friend [[Asclepiades of Phlius|Asclepiades's]] wife. When Asclepiades's wife died, he is said to have left his wife to him and married someone richer with whom he had three daughters. His first wife continued to run the household. Menedemus was friends with the poets [[Aratos of Soloi]], [[Lycophron of Chalcis]], and [[Antagoras of Rhodes]]. [[Diogenes Laertius]] names [[Dionysius of Heraclea]] and [[Antigonus II Gonatas]] as possible students of Menedemus.

==Philosophy==
His philosophical views are known only in part. [[Athenaeus]] quotes [[Epicrates of Ambracia|Epicrates]] as stating that he was a [[Platonist]], but other accounts credit him with having preferred Stilpo to Plato. Diogenes Laërtius{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 134-135}} says that he declined to identify the Good with the Useful and that he denied the value of the negative proposition on the ground that affirmation alone can express truth. In ethics we learn from [[Plutarch]]<ref>Plutarch, ''De Virtute Morali'' 2</ref> and from [[Cicero]]<ref>Cicero, ''Academica'' ii. 42</ref> that he regarded Virtue as one, by whatever name it be called, and maintained that it is intellectual. Cicero's evidence is less valuable because he always assumed that Menedemus was a follower of the [[Megarian school]]. Diogenes says that he left no writings, and the Eretrian school disappeared after a short and unobtrusive existence.<ref name=EB1911/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last=Dorandi  |first=Tiziano |chapter=Chapter 2: Chronology |editor-last=Algra |editor-first=Keimpe |display-editors=etal |year=1999 |title=The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy |page=50 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521250283 }}
*{{cite LotEP |chapter=Menedemus (book ii)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Menedemus}}
[[Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:3rd-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Eretrians]]
[[Category:Eretrian philosophers]]
[[Category:340s BC births]]
[[Category:260s BC deaths]]